That night, everything was completely silent, the ink-like darkness covered the earth.
Zane sat alone in front of the city gate, staring at the quiet and deep darkness outside the city.
Ever since the afterimage tides started happening frequently, the northern side of Jinzhou City all the way to Norfall Barrens had become more and more desolate.
On normal days, merchant caravans and messengers coming and going from the north of Jinzhou City kept running between the frontline stations and the nearby villages.
That kind of lively scene where everything thrived still felt like it was right in front of his eyes.
Just as Zane was staring blankly outside the city, a clear sound of footsteps broke the dead silence of the night, coming from behind him.
"I wonder what our little tyrant of the border court is thinking about?", The woman spoke softly, her charming and elegant voice carrying a faint lazy and tempting tone.
Even without turning around, Zane knew that the only person who would have the time to come out for a walk at this hour and could easily find him was Changli.
"Master, don't make fun of me.", Zane smiled silently, turned his head, and looked at the woman who was as elegant and noble as a phoenix.
Because of her resonance skill, even in the cold night, Changli still gave off a warm feeling that made people feel at ease.
He couldn't help but stand up and move a little closer to her.
Looking at the handsome young man in front of her, Changli couldn't help recalling that little white-haired ball who used to cling to her every winter, hugging her and sweetly calling her "Master." Who knew that in the blink of an eye, he had already grown taller than her.
Changli slightly raised her head and met Zane's gaze. In her rose-red phoenix eyes, there was unmatched pride.
"Nothing happened today, right?"
"What could happen? I just killed a bunch of scum from the Fractsidus. That didn't affect your plans, right?"
Hearing Zane's words, Changli gently shook her head. A relieved expression appeared on her face.
She raised her hand and lightly patted Zane's shoulder, signaling him not to worry about it.
"They're just a bunch of unimportant pawns. As long as Rover is fine, killing the others doesn't matter."
Changli paused for a moment, then looked at Zane meaningfully, "You seem to have gotten quite close to Rover recently."
Zane didn't know if it was just his imagination, but the way Changli was looking at him right now somehow felt like a mother at home seeing her own pig fail to resist temptation and get lured away by someone else's cabbage, that kind of disappointed feeling of not living up to expectations.
"Ah… that…" Zane scratched his cheek awkwardly and stiffened his neck as he explained, "I… yeah, I was just protecting Rover, nothing else."
"Oh?" Changli raised her phoenix brows slightly, neither confirming nor denying, and said playfully, "Protecting her all the way onto her lap? And even slept there for a while?"
Hearing that, how could Zane argue back? His face rarely turned red as he stood there, unable to say a word.
Luckily, Changli was only teasing her cute disciple younger brother and didn't plan to dwell on it.
She raised her hand and gently rubbed Zane's hair, then said softly, "As for that little girl in the black coat, I won't ask where she came from."
"Her abilities might even far exceed mine. After all, even I can't memorize all of Jinzhou's archives in just a few dozen minutes."
"With her by your side, she should be able to keep an eye on you."
Hearing this, Zane knew the "little girl" she meant was the Doctor. After all, that was the Evil Spirit of Babel Tower. When it came to intelligence, probably no one in all of Solaris could surpass her.
"I understand the logic, but Master, why are you looking at me like I'm some human trafficker?"
"Oh? Am I?" Changli smiled, suddenly feeling that her disciple's charm was really getting stronger and stronger.
Not to mention her own student Jinhsi, whose mind was either full of the people of Jinzhou or this silly younger brother, then there was Yangyang, the junior from the Night Returning Army, the innocent Danjin, the mysterious Rover, and the newly appeared Doctor; even Xiangli Yao from the Huaxu Research Institute, General Jiyan, and Mortefi who invited him every now and then to test weapons…
It made Changli start to wonder, 'Are fools really this popular?'
Even she herself couldn't help but care about him, afraid he might get himself lost out in the wild.
"Right, tomorrow…", Changli suddenly remembered something and quickly spoke up.
But just as the words left her mouth, Zane nodded, turned around, and started walking toward the city.
"I know, I know, you want to do something around Rover and the Fractsidus, right? I killed so many of them. If I stay by Rover's side, they probably won't take the bait."
Only Changli knew that her most proud disciple wasn't actually a fool.
"You know that, and you're still walking into the city?"
Hearing Changli's words, Zane's body stiffened. Countless excuses had already flashed through his mind.
But just as he had come up with one, Changli spoke with helpless gentleness, reminding him, "Go on then. Be careful to hide your tracks a bit. The Fractsidus people are still in the city."
"Alright, Master, don't worry. When the time comes, I'll definitely sneak out quietly and won't let those guys from the Fractsidus notice."
Zane waved his hand and disappeared at the end of the street under Changli's helpless gaze.
———
Soon, Zane skillfully made his way to Rover's room. At this time, she was already asleep. Zane didn't disturb her and just stood by the bed, quietly watching her.
After a long while, Zane pushed aside that familiar feeling in his heart and prepared to turn around and leave.
But just as he turned and had barely taken a step, a slender hand suddenly grabbed his clothes from behind.
Zane's body stiffened. He had sneaked in to see her and got caught red-handed by the person involved.
So he had no choice but to rack his brain again to come up with an explanation.
"That… Rover, I…"
While thinking, Zane turned his head, but suddenly saw those golden eyes, like the sun, shining brightly as they stared at him.
Meeting those bright and clear pupils, Zane felt his heart skip a beat. He couldn't say a single word of explanation anymore.
———
"Came out?"
A few minutes later, Zane walked out of Rover's room and immediately saw the Doctor leaning against the wall opposite him.
At this moment, she had taken off the black coat she always wore and was only dressed in a white tight high-neck sweater. A pair of bright eyes flickered with intelligent light.
"Yeah." Zane nodded, then quickly walked up and reached out, rubbing her smooth black hair hard under her dissatisfied gaze.
"You should have solved Sister Jihnsi's puzzle, right?" Zane looked at the note the Doctor handed over, waved his hand, and showed no intention of taking it.
Obviously, the Doctor had successfully solved the sundial token given by Jinhsi to Rover. Inside the sundial, there was a map leading to the Huanglong encyclopedia.
"Then I'll leave it to you tomorrow."
"Okay."
Zane and the Doctor looked at each other, everything was understood without words.
After saying goodbye to the Doctor, Zane once again moved through the darkness out of Jinzhou City and returned to Qichi Village.
After all, there were still so many corpses of Fractsidus assassins left in the village. During the day, he had only focused on bringing Rover back to Jinzhou City to treat her wounds and hadn't had time to deal with the bodies.
If they were left there, they might become a source of plague. Even if they didn't turn into a breeding ground for bacteria, it wouldn't be good if passing afterimages got frightened.
Of course, he was definitely not doing it to loot equipment materials from the Fractsidus in exchange for Star Sound draws.
Compared to the exiles turned from civilians, these Fractsidus guys were clearly richer. Roughly speaking, one living member of the Fractsidus could help him scam 16 Star Sounds from the system.
Eliminating harm for the people and getting Star Sounds, dealing with corpses and also getting Star Sounds.
This wave of actions was basically the opposite of Conan committing crimes, more like Kid doing good deeds.